


On The Precipice of Regret

by RedSoldierBeta



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Cheating, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot, Other, Smoking, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unhealthy Relationships, implied relationships but uhhhh, original character means nothing but is kinda just there so i could tell the story, yeah paul and pat arent good people here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 17:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14141220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedSoldierBeta/pseuds/RedSoldierBeta
Summary: He wondered, briefly, if he should feel bad about what he'd allowed himself to be dragged into.He didn't, of course, but he thought maybe he should've.





	On The Precipice of Regret

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I just kinda wanted to write something like this.
> 
> If you're here for Paul and Pat being a genuinely good couple I'm afraid you're in the wrong place.

Standing hurt, a bit. Not so much that Seven would resort to sitting down again. After all, the cigarette wasn’t even halfway burned down. He’d either have to put it out or run the risk of being found out for smoking inside, kind of. He was leaning halfway out the window, taking slow drags from his cigarette, watching as the sky lightened just enough to indicate that the sun was going to rise soon. Another sleepless night. It’d probably bite him in the ass in training, but he couldn’t find it within him to care.

Paul shuffled in his bed, turning over in his sleep. Seven turned to watch the movement with tired eyes, tapping his cigarette on the windowsill idly. Just hours earlier he had been sharing that bed with him. Sharing a bed with an unfaithful man. The thought didn’t disgust or dishearten him though. After all, Seven was _well_ aware that he was the ‘other man’ in this situation.

He didn’t know Paul’s boyfriend very well. Patryck maybe? Something like that. But he knew of him. Seven had seen the way Pat’s eyes lit up when Paul said something witty. He had seen the way Pat worked and lead soldiers.

Seven and Paul had both seen the way Pat looked at their boss. It was rare but just often enough that they knew that _something_ had to be going on. He would lock eyes with the Red Leader on occasion. Red Leader would have no visible reaction, seeming to treat Pat no different than any other soldier under him. But Pat’s lips would quirk up, form something more akin to a smirk. Like a criminal who knew he wouldn't get caught.

Seven had been confused the first time Paul had pressed him against a wall, kissed him, and suggested they become friends with benefits. He had agreed, of course, for his own reasons, but he hadn’t exactly put the pieces together.

Then he saw the way Pat looked at their boss. He walked up on the wrong moment, intending to ask Red Leader about possibly fixing a door down in the armory (where a fist fight got out of hand and ended with the doors knob barely hanging on) and overheard a noise so obscene he felt like a voyeur. In front of the door stood a clearly pissed Paul. Seven had barely heard their boss moan out a particular name when Paul grabbed his wrist, leaned down and growled out an order so angry that Seven felt his heart leap into his throat, standing rooted to his spot until Paul turned around and clarified “ _now,_ soldier,” spurring Seven to nervously follow behind.

Before Seven understood the situation, he’d wondered if he should feel _bad_ about being the other man. After all, Seven at least understood that generally cheating was seen as a bad thing. However, in this moment, the sun rising and the sound of Paul slowly beginning to awaken as the light began to pour into the room, Seven had to wonder if instead Pat _deserved_ this betrayal. After all, hadn’t he cheated first?

Seven crushed the remains of his cigarette into the ashtray he’d moved from Paul’s bedside to the windowsill. From behind him, he heard the creak of the bed as Paul got up, the telltale sign that Seven’s time of quiet contemplation was coming to an abrupt close.

Paul leaned into Seven’s back, arms curling around his waist in a display of affection that only came when the man was half awake. For a long time, neither of them spoke, merely watching the sum finally make its way over the horizon, turning the sky pink and yellow.

“Th’hell are you doin’ up, Sev? Sun’s barely up.” Seven didn’t smile, didn’t turn. Despite the affection, he knew that Paul wouldn’t appreciate a reciprocation. After all, Seven and Paul weren’t dating. They weren’t in love. They just fucked sometimes.

“Thinking. Smoking. Watching the sun come up.” He shrugged, and Paul hummed in response.

“You didn’t sleep, did you?”

Seven snorted, instinctively reaching for another cigarette, only to come up empty.

“Ah shit. That obvious huh?” Paul just hummed in response, pulling back.

“Third night in a row right?” Seven didn’t respond, merely looking out the window once more. Paul sighed, turning Seven around and backing him up into the bed, pushing him down. It was a familiar scene, but instead of Paul following, he went through the motions of getting dressed.

“Sleep for  _once_ in your life. You aren’t any use if you pass out in the middle of the training grounds. I’ll cover for you.”

“I could just _leave_ y’know.”

“Oh I know,” Paul returned flippantly, pulling his belt taut. He shot Seven a look that made his heart drop to his stomach, and Seven instinctively pressed his legs together. Paul returned to the bed, leaned down, and smirked, mere inches from Seven’s face. “But you _won't._ ”

“How do you know that?”

“Hmm? It’s easy. _You_ have a fun little mark your turtleneck won't cover, right here,” he said, pressing his finger to a spot on Seven’s neck that made him shudder. “And I know you’d do anything to keep from looking like a bad person in the eyes of Sarah.”

Seven tensed his jaw as Paul backed up. He was _right_ unfortunately, but Seven didn't _like_ it. Paul finished pulling on his uniform and waved flippantly on his way out of the door.

“Don’t let anyone know you’re here, Sev.”

The door closed, leaving Seven with nothing to do but sleep.


End file.
